Great Salt Lake Tour
Discover the mysteries of America’s Dead Sea!
Quick Details
TIME: 2:30 PM
Duration: 2 hours
Price: $59.99 Adult / $30 child
Starting Location: Radisson Downtown Hotel - 215 W South Temple, SLC
Parking: available for a small fee in a public parking lot across the street
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Float in the Great Salt Lake!
Great Salt Lake is so salty that you simply cannot sink in it. Learn the science behind the lake that is up to ten times as salty as the ocean. Travel to a historic beach resort and enjoy romantic tales from a century ago. Missing this tour is like having popcorn without salt!
Saltair:
Hear tales of a historic beach resort built by the Mormon Church to be a family-friendly attraction amidst the rowdy pleasure resorts of the early 1900s. Once known as the “Coney Island of the West,” it’s now in its third iteration
Utah State Marina:
Home of the Great Salt Lake Yacht Club, “the world’s saltiest sailors!”
Visitor Center: science and history exhibits, gift shop
Silver Sands Beach: walk the shores of soft, pearl-like sand — photo opportunities abound
Observation Deck: this scenic overlook of the Great Salt Lake, its islands, and the surrounding Rocky Mountains makes for spectacular photos
Catch a live sea monkey! The only creature that can survive in this lake, once sold to children through comic books
Inland Sea Shorebird Reserve:
several million migratory birds of over 250 species visit Great Salt Lake each year
Wildlife: antelope roam the open plains
History and Science of the Great Salt Lake
Take it with a grain of salt
A remnant of the pre-historic Lake Bonneville from the Ice Age, Great Salt Lake today is the largest lake west of the Mississippi River and the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere, measuring 75 miles in length and 28 miles in width, covering 1,700 square miles. The size and depth vary year to year, with a current maximum depth of 33 feet. Water that flows into the lake from four major rivers, fed by melting snow, carries with it 2.2 million tons of minerals each year.
Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake, having no outlet, so water can only escape through evaporation, leaving the minerals behind. Compared with a salinity of 3 percent in the oceans, Great Salt Lake can get up to 28 percent -- too salty for fish. The one creature of the lake is the brine shrimp, once marketed to children as pets called Sea Monkeys. The shrimp are an important source of food for several million migratory birds that pass through Utah each year. About 80 percent of Utah's wetlands surround Great Salt Lake. It is one of the most important resources for migratory birds in North America, with up to nine million birds traveling to the lake along the Pacific Flyway. Over 250 species of birds visit the lake each year.